Mr Gerard Baker

I studied PPE at Corpus and, without ever really intending to, subsequently demonstrated the truth of the old canard that it is the nearest thing Oxford has to a journalism degree.

A circuitous route took me into the newsroom, with wayside stops after Corpus in the City and politics. I spent seven years in television, mostly at the BBC, then moved to the Financial Times where I was Tokyo Correspondent and Washington Bureau Chief. In 2004, I joined The Times, as US Editor, where I covered a couple of wars and an historic election. In 2009, I moved to New York as Deputy Editor in Chief of The Wall Street Journal.

I owe an incalculable debt to Corpus. It was, of course, the setting for an almost implausibly happy four years. Its teachers taught me how to think and to argue. I'd like to think the spirit of the place, a near-magical mix of intellectual freedom and intimate humanity, still animates me. Scarcely a day goes by when I don’t indulge some happy recollection of the college or offer my silent gratitude for all that it freely gave me.